CAIRO 

Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry has begun transferring the golden funeral bed of celebrated boy-king Tutankhamun from the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo to its new Grand Museum -- which is still under construction -- near the Pyramids of Giza.

"A restoration team at the Egyptian Grand Museum, along with a Japanese experts, has begun packaging Tutankhamun’s funerary effects, which are now on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square," the ministry said in a Wednesday statement.

According to Grand Museum General Director Tariq Tawfiq, the transfer process will begin as soon as the packaging is completed.

"Scientific documentation and initial restoration procedures were done before the funerary effects were packaged so as to ensure maximum safety during the moving process," Tawfiq said.

Tutankhamun’s funerary bed is comprised of wood covered with plates of gold, according to Tawfiq.

Egypt’s Grand Museum, which is due to partially open in 2018, will eventually house the entire Tutankhamun collection, along with thousands of other pharaonic-era antiquities.

Tutankhamun’s reign lasted from 1334 to 1325 BC during ancient Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. His tomb was discovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter.

*Reporting by Rabie al-Sukkari; Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg